Angel mom Laura Wilkerson’s 18-year-old son Josh was killed by an illegal alien “dreamer” who came to the United States with his parents at 10-years-old and would likely have qualified under the once-touted Gang of Eight comprehensive immigration reform bill “DREAM Act” or DACA.
On Monday Wilkerson spoke with Breitbart News about Trump Administration plans to reverse now former President Obama’s unconstitutional immigration executive order Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA).
Wilkerson said she never expected the Trump Administration to pull kids out of the arms of their parents to send them home. “I knew it was going to be a long process,” she said, adding, “I do not think they should be allowed any extras like in-state tuition.”
She said that if individuals have minor children, they can pick up those children and go home, and if they’re adults they can as well.
“Separation is not like our separation, they can pick their kids up and go home. Do they want to? No,” said Wilkerson. She said she didn’t understand why he was holding off the implementation for a while, but she hopes there is a good solution in the works. “Definitely they need to go home,” she added.
Wilkerson said she has compassion, adding, “It’s a human issue. It’s so hard to just, ya know, if I’m standing looking a three-year-old kid in the face, ya know, crying ‘my mommy can’t come home,’ my question is just, your mommy should take you. That is the issue is take them with you and say, ‘ya know we tried to do this and for a while we did it, but I’ve made a mistake and this is what the consequences are, we’re going home to make a life wherever we’re from.’”
She emphasized that she doesn’t want to see these individuals getting perks such as in-state tuition, welfare, or the ability to vote.
Asked what the effect on herself and her family has been on having a family member killed by an illegal alien “dreamer,” Wilkerson replied, “It’s devastation to our families that will never be repaired. I will never be the same person in this earthly life that I was before he was killed by somebody that shouldn’t have been here.” She said her family, surviving siblings, and Josh’s friends will never be the same.
“You don’t know who you are anymore without this child in your life. It’s starting over and that’s the reality of it,” said Wilkerson. She said in some sense starting over may be a reality for those who have to return to their home countries, but that it isn’t comparable to her not being able to call her son, that her son doesn’t get to live out the rest of his life. “Everything for him stopped that day, no question.”
“That for me is not separation,” Wilkerson said of those who could have to return to their home countries, but can take their families with them.
She commented that immigrants here legally certainly have nothing to fear, as they have done things legally.
“We don’t have that luxury of skirting any laws because we have had a hard life, we just don’t,” said Wilkerson. “There’s no mistaking that I can’t call another country and talk to Josh. It’s just forever.”
“They can still raise their child” if sent back to their home country, commented Wilkerson.
Wilkerson said she trusts the president’s judgement, and if a six month implementation is what Trump thinks is needed, then she was accepting that he knows what he is doing. However, she said ultimately that DACA needs to be removed as she sees it as just “perks.”
She said those that were brought illegally by their parents should have a discussion with their own parents to express the terrible situation those parents have put them in.
“I would like to see them roll it back and be done with it,” Wilkerson said of DACA. She said she believes Trump wants to do this and to build the wall, but that it wouldn’t be “as easy as 1-2-3.”
She indicated that Trump may be giving Congress the opportunity to “put up or shut up” on addressing the issue of immigration, but wasn’t sure exactly what the strategy is. She said she trusts Trump to get things done, but also expressed that she will be heartbroken if nothing does get done.
On Tuesday, Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced that the Trump administration plans to end the DACA program after a period of time. That time is supposed to allow Congress to act on the issue of immigration and those that have been shielded from immigration law enforcement under DACA.
Follow Michelle Moons on Twitter @MichelleDiana
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.